Somethin' to Fight For
by Twenty-Two Cents
Summary: Two survivors traveling across a hellish post-apocalyptic world, one profoundly deep bond they never expected. Some lost moments from Joel and Ellie's journey to find the Fireflies.
1. Soft

**Rated T+ for gore and language along the lines of what you'd see in the game. This goes for all chapters - please let me know if you think the rating should change to M for any reason.**

Sometimes, in the darkest part of the night, when the air was still and silent but for the light breathing of his "cargo," Joel's mind would wander through dangerous territory. Thoughts he shoved into the corner and buried alive came scratching and clawing their way up to the surface, unbidden and unwanted.

_Kid seems so small when she sleeps._

_She ain't been eating nearly enough._

_Sarah would've liked her._

God, but this job was making him all kinds of soft.

_Is that such a bad thing?_

Funny how he could hear that last thought so clearly in Sarah's voice.

* * *

Sometimes, he wondered what she would have been like in this world.

Would she still have been kind? Funny? Always ready to laugh? Would she be tough and yet still warm and caring, like Ellie?

Or would she be cold and ruthless, like him?

He looked at the mutated corpse at his feet, its skull smashed and brain matter splattered across the floor, eyes still somehow glowing with Cordyceps spores.

Maybe it was best she went so early, he thought.

It was quick. Not painless, God it wasn't painless, but it was quick. She wasn't in agony for long, which was more than he could say for most people he knew (and some he'd killed himself).

She'd only known terror for the last hour of her life.

He glanced at Ellie, who was holding her small knife in a death grip, half crouched, pressed against a wall as she listened for more infected. Or, just as bad, hunters.

Yes, Joel finally decided, after twenty years of pondering it: Sarah's death had been a blessing for them both.


	2. Adrenaline

She looked up at him, gun clutched in her hands, fear and determination in equal parts written across her face. They crouched behind a rusted out car, his left arm around her, steadying them both, his right clutching a brick. He listened hard, hearing the gravel crunching beneath boots, getting nearer by the second.

One, Mississippi.

She tapped him, nodding toward their left, where another hunter was moseying in their direction. He nodded back.

Two, Mississippi.

The boots drew closer, less than five feet away by Joel's estimation. He drew back, preparing to throw.

Three, Mississippi.

One slightly lopsided throw later - not his best, he could admit - both men had turned to look at the source of the noise behind them.

Joel lunged, wrapping an arm around the unlucky hunter's throat and dragging him behind the car. The man struggled, gurgling, for several long moments before finally going still.

"Behind you!"

Before he could turn, something heavy hit him square in the back, knocking him into the car. He swore, fumbling for his pistol, but a black boot kicked it out of his hand and he was shoved roughly to the ground. He heard Ellie yelling as a fist grabbed him by the hair and the barrel of a gun pressed hard against his temple.

"We're gonna keep your little girl alive for a long time, so don't you worry," a man snarled above him.

Another man behind him gave a cry of pain. Several gunshots rang out, and the man dropped his gun and fell heavily on top of Joel. He wriggled out from underneath, snatching his pistol and whirling around.

Ellie stood a few feet away, clutching her gun and staring back at him. A hunter lay dead at her feet, blood pooling from a hole in his head.

After a long moment where neither of them moved, she tucked her pistol in the waistband of her jeans and wiped blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. Seeing Joel's expression, she grimaced. "Don't worry, it's not mine. Asshole tried to cop a feel, so I bit him. And then shot him. Figured you wouldn't mind if I went ahead and shot your guy too."

He couldn't help but grin a little, and if that warmth in his chest felt a little like pride, well... it must've been the adrenaline.


	3. Mountains

Traveling across the country with your emotionally constipated guardian - partner in crime? Tour guide to the weird relics of the past? Father figure? No, scratch that last one. He'd made it clear he wanted none of that, and Ellie couldn't blame him, not really.

Whatever Joel was to her, traveling with him certainly had its ups and downs. Mountains and valleys, she thought as she stared out the window of the old truck. The steep slopes stretched up to the sky. They were craggy, rocky, weathered-looking things up close, but so very green.

She wondered what had happened to them to make them so weathered. The elements weren't kind to rocks over time, she knew. She'd found a couple of science books once that described erosion and earthquakes and all the things that nature could throw at sturdy rock faces that, eventually, would eat them completely away. Were there earthquakes in this part of the country? Funny, the books hadn't told her that.

They also hadn't mentioned the Cordyceps Brain Infection, so what did those scientists know, anyway?

She snuck a glance at Joel out of the corner of her eye. He was leaning one elbow next to the window, propping his head up as he drove. Naked exhaustion showed on his face, drawing new wrinkles Ellie hadn't seen before.

_He thinks I'm asleep,_ she realized. She had been, but she slept so lightly these days, and the slightest bump was apt to wake her up. These roads weren't exactly smooth, either, after decades of abuse from the weather.

Mother Nature could be a real bitch.

Joel's gaze shifted over to Ellie, lingering with a hint of surprise when he caught her looking back. His expression shifted back to normal - closed, stony, guarded.

Ellie found herself wishing she'd pretended to be asleep.

"You should sleep," he rumbled, voice rough and scratchy.

"Nah, I'm not tired," she lied. "You should let me drive. At this rate, you're gonna fall asleep and drive us into a fucking ditch."

He turned back to the road, but she caught an eye roll.

"And don't even pull that 'I been drivin' long trips since before you were even born, kid' bullshit."

"Is that what you think I sound like?"

"That _is_ what you sound like. And you know I can drive, so don't change the subject."

He just shook his head in response, eyes on the road. "Ellie-"

She knew that tone. It radiated exasperation, and also meant he was about to give her one of his patented I'm-the-boss-of-you-and-you-better-listen-youngun' speeches.

Ellie sighed in frustration, knowing she couldn't break through, and suddenly not feeling the energy for an argument.

"Fine, whatever. Drive us off a cliff. See if I care." She crossed her arms and sank into her seat, staring out the window again, looking at the stupid, stubborn mountains.

She thought she heard Joel chuckle as she felt sleep tugging her back under, and with her last bit of energy, she flipped him off.


End file.
